Voting underway in first phase of Kerala civic body polls

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 2 (IANS) The voting was underway in the first phase of the civic body polls in Kerala on Monday, with around 12 percentvoters exercising their franchise till 9 a.m., the office of the state election commissioner said.

While the voting process has been peaceful, the polling was stopped at a few booths in Kannur district due to technical snags.

The seven districts where polls are being held include Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Idukki, Kozhikode, Kannur, Wayanad and Kasargode.

As many as 10.1 million people are eligible to cast their votes to decide the fate of 31,161 candidates in this phase.

The result of this polls is going to be path breaking in the political history of the state, CPI-M Politburo member Pinnarayi Vijayan told mediapersons after casting his vote.

Altogether, over 2.50 crore voters would exercise their franchise at 35,000 polling booths in the two-phased polls.

Heavy rains in the capital district on Monday saw a cold response by the electorate with just around nine percent turnout in the initial hour.

United Democratic Front (UDF) convenor P.P. Thankachen expressed supreme confidence that the outcome will be a feather in the cap for the Oommen Chandy government.

The Congress-led UDF holds power in about 65 percent of the local bodies in the state.